Improvement in fire extinguishing and escape apparatus



w. E.- woon & E. LEONARD. FI-RE-EXTING'UISHING AND ESCAPE APPARATUS. No.17Z ,234. Patented Jan.11,1876.

N4 PUERS, PNOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D. C.

f UNITED PATENT. Qrrrcn;

WILLIAM wooDfAND EDWARD LEONARD, oF BALTiMoRE, MARYLAND- IMPROVEMENT lNFlRE EXTlNGUlsHlNG Ano ESCAPE APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 72,234, dated January 11, 1876; application filed Juno 4, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM E. WOOD and EDWARD LEONARD, of Baltimore. city, State of Maryland, have invented a new and Improved Fire Extinguishing and Escape Apparatus for Buildings; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forn1- ing a part of this specification, in which the figure is a vertical front elevatiompartly in section.

The object of this invention is to provide a means for the immediate suppression and extinguishmentof fires, and a safe and expeditious means of escape from factories and other large buildings containing many operatives.

The invention consists in astand-pipe upon theoutside of the building with hose pipes and connections at the windows of each story,

in combination with balconies upon the outsideof said windows, connected with the earth by means of outside ladders, as hereinafter more fully described. i

The invention also consists in a stand-pipe, connected with either the tankupon the house or the street-main, which said pipe stands by y the side of the building upon the outside, and

is provided at every story with hose pipes and nozzles, which are designed to play through i the windows in the event of the rapid increase of fire inside, and the consequent filling of the building with smoke. In combination with the stand-pipes are balconies atevery story, which are reached by flights of steps or ladders, upon which balconies the men stand that are working the streams through the windows, and by means of which a rapid exit may be made in case of danger. In com- I bination with the said stand-pipe, also, a perforated pipe runs "around the floor of each story, for the purpose of flooding the floor to prevent the communication of the fire'from one story to another.

In the drawing, A'represents a factorybuilding, having a tower, B, which contains stairs, that constitute the usual means of exit.

In the top of the said tower, or upon any other convenient place upon the house-top, we locate a tank or reservoir, 0, which is kept constantly filled with water. Communicating with the said tank through a stop-cock are the large supply-pipes D, which are fixed to the ceiling of the upper story, and from which run pendent pipes E through all the' stories and floors of the building. Said pipes are about one inch in diameter, and are located about fifteen or twenty feet apart. Each one of said pipes is provided with a separate valve and a hose-pipe, a, carrying a nozzle, which i said hose is of a length sufficient to reach any point between the vertical pipes. By means 'of this arrangement each operative has at his or her command the means for'extinguishing a fire in its incipiency, the convenience and facilityof using said pipes rendering unnecessary the discharge of a large body of water to accomplish the same effect, which would have the efiect to damage more property than the actual burnin g, and for which damage there is no remedy byinsurance. Fis a large stand-pipe upon the outside of the building, which receives its water either from the tank 0 through the pipe G, or from the street-mains, ora force-pump, through a valve, 1). The said pipe has an air-chamber, H, at the top, and

an outlet-eock,I, at the bottonnthroughwhich the water in the stand-pipe may be let oil" in cold weather, to prevent freezing. J are bal' conies, which surround the stand-pipes, and.

extend, preferably, across two windows. Said balconies are at convenient places upon each story, and are reached by stationary ladders or steps K. Attached to the portion of the stand-pipe in the balconies are-hose-connections with pipes and nozzles L, which are to be worked by the men upon the balconies to direct streams through the windows whenever it is impossible to work upon the inside, by reason of the smoke. M are perforated tubes running around the floor of each story, and connecting,*through stop-cocks, with the standpipe. Ihese pipes serve to flood the floors, andr ning through the entire building, all possibility of the headway of a fire is prevented during't'he working hours of the factory, and by combining with the stand-pipe upon the outside of the building a balcony, and means for ascending and descending the same, the noz- 'zles of the said pipes may be brought; into operation when the building is full of smoke, and under circumstances under which the different features taken singly'would be of no avail.

The system as thus describedis one in which practical experiment is the testof its efficiency, and one which fully meets the requirements of the age, by affording both an efficient and quickly available means for extinguishing fires, and also a ready means of escape.

vthe steps or ladders for ascending-or escaping from the same, substantially as and for the purpose described.

WILLIAM E'. WOOD. EDWARD LEONARD.

Witnesses:

OTTO BENNER, LEONARD L. MILLER. 

